100 Covid-19 deaths reported in 24 hours

ISLAMABAD: The number of deaths due to COVID-19 crossed 100 mark for the first time since the start of second wave of coronavirus in the country.

The National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) in its daily report on Wednesday reported 105 deaths in the last 24 hours from across the country, taking the tally to 9,010.

In all, 2,731 new positive cases surfaced out of 38,028 conducted in 24 hours. The National Positivity Ratio remained 7.2%. Highest positivity ratio was observed in Karachi with 18.76%, followed by Hyderabad 16.56%, Peshawar 15.99%, Rawalpindi 6.15% and Lahore 6.04%. A total 2,510 COVID patients are in critical condition across Pakistan and the number of such patients is rising fast. The positivity ratio in various federating units is

Sindh 14.8%, KP 11.3%, AJK 5.0%, Balochistan 4.9%, GB 1.6%, Islamabad 2.9% and Punjab 3.2%.

The mortality rate in the country is 2.02% against 2.22% as global rate of deaths. Meanwhile, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan said on Wednesday that the invention of coronavirus vaccines are no excuse for people to stop following Standard Operation Producers (SOPs) and other safety measures.

The special assistant, addressing a post-meeting press conference, said that a meeting was held where health ministers and representatives from the provinces across Pakistan participated. "They were briefed on the country's virus vaccine strategy."

"The federal government will make it possible for an effective vaccine to be available in the country," he said, adding that several steps were already taken in this regard. The special assistant said that the government would announce soon which vaccines would be available in Pakistan.

Dr Faisal said that the vaccine would not resolve the issue and that implementation of safety measures was still necessary. He said Pakistan is recording more new cases, as compared to the past few months, and that the increased pressure is affecting the country's health care system. He said that the best way to fight the pandemic, in the given situation, is to ensure that we follow the SOPs, issued by the government to stem the virus's spread. "It is imperative that we keep following them," he said, reported private news channel.

Appealing to the Christian community to follow coronavirus safety measures, as Christmas was approaching, he said that guidelines were issued in this regard and that they should ensure their implementation.